State asks to appeal Oneida ruling

The state has asked permission to appeal a federal judge's ruling that said the Oneida Indians might be entitled to millions of dollars for land sold to the state more than a century ago.

Reversing the judge's ruling would end the 37-year-old Oneida land claim once and for all, the state said in the request filed late Tuesday with the federal appeals court in Manhattan. Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Kahn said the three Oneida tribes could pursue their claim that the state underpaid for Oneida land. A New York Oneida lawyer said the tribes could be owed $500 million.

Kahn also ruled that the Oneidas could no longer pursue their claim to take back 250,000 acres of land in Madison and Oneida counties.